Ulla von Brandenburg: In Dialogue

A site-specific commission by Ulla von Brandenburg presented in dialogue with two important women artists in the histories of art and design exploring cross-generational aesthetic pursuits in the totalizing potential of abstraction.

Curated by James Voorhies, with Claudia Mattos

The Bass Museum of Art
Miami Beach, FL
August 28, 2024–August 24, 2025

Made possible with funding and staff from The Bass; realized within my responsibilities as Chief Curator of The Bass

Ulla von Brandenburg, the German-born artist based in Paris, engages with idiosyncratic moments and overlooked figures from the histories of art and culture. Her exhibitions and projects draw a wide range of subjects, including occultism, psychoanalysis, modernist architecture and Hollywood cinema, into contemporary contexts. This presentation of von Brandenburg’s work is paired with The Bass’s recently acquired ceramic mural by the Lebanese-American artist Etel Adnan (1925–2021). A leading figure in contemporary Arab American visual art and literature, Adnan created rich, geometric fields of color in her paintings and drawings, some translated into large-scale murals and tapestries that reflect the artist’s enduring interest in architecture and the built environment. Comparatively, von Brandenburg’s multifaceted practice combines film, textiles, drawings, watercolors and sound into immersive exhibition scenarios where the different art forms harmonize into a cohesive whole (or Gesamtkunstwerk). 

Ulla von Brandenburg: In Dialogue explores this cross-generational engagement with geometric abstraction—its interplay of circles, squares and triangles—evident in both Adnan’s mural and von Brandenburg’s practice, and staged alongside the rich history of the Russian-French artist Sonia Delaunay. Here, Adnan’s lyrical abstract mural (Untitled, 2023), at 14 × 21 feet, serves as both a protagonist and theatrical backdrop in von Brandenburg’s exhibition scenography. The works interweave through the language of abstraction and the artists’ shared interests in the social and spatial environment.

Brochure

Installation view, Ulla von Brandenburg: In Dialogue, with Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2023. Ceramic mural, 14 × 21 ft. Collection of The Bass, purchased through the John and Johanna Bass Acquisition Fund; and Ulla von Brandenburg, Things Are Thoughts, Day and Night, 2024. Two textile paintings, cut-out and painted cotton, both 19 × 17 ft. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London

Ulla von Brandenburg, drawings from the series Things Are Thoughts, 2024. Each Japanese ink on paper; Model 1–3, 2023. Wood and oil paint, with three films from the series La fenetre s’ouvre comme une orange (The window opens like an orange), 2022. Super 16 mm film transferred to HD video, color, silent, 12:23 min. All courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London; Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2023. Ceramic mural, 14 × 21 ft. Collection of The Bass, purchased through the John and Johanna Bass Acquisition Fund

Ulla von Brandenburg, Model 1–3, 2023. Each wood and oil paint; three films from the series La fenetre s’ouvre comme une orange (The window opens like an orange), 2022. Super 16 mm film transferred to HD video, color, silent, 12:23 min. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London. Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2020. Crayon on paper, sketch for a ceramic mural, catalogue raisonné number D98. Courtesy of the estate of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg; Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2023. Ceramic mural, 14 × 21 ft. Collection of The Bass, purchased through the John and Johanna Bass Acquisition Fund

Ulla von Brandenburg, drawings from the series Things Are Thoughts, 2024. Each Japanese ink on paper, courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London

Ulla von Brandenburg, Things Are Thoughts 7, 2024. Japanese ink on paper. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London

Ulla von Brandenburg, three films from the series La fenetre s’ouvre comme une orange (The window opens like an orange), 2022. Super 16 mm film transferred to HD video, color, silent, 12:23 min. All courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London; Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2020. Crayon on paper, sketch for a ceramic mural, catalogue raisonné number D98. Courtesy of the estate of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg

Etel Adnan, Model 3, 2023. Wood and oil paint. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London

Ulla von Brandenburg, La fenêtre s’ouvre comme une orange (danse abstraction), 2022. Super 16 mm film transferred to HD video, color, silent, 12:23 min. Produced with the support of XNL / Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London

Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2020. Crayon on paper, sketch for a ceramic mural, catalogue raisonné number D98. Courtesy of the estate of the artist and Sfeir-Semler Gallery Beirut/Hamburg

Installation view, Ulla von Brandenburg: In Dialogue, with Etel Adnan, Untitled, 2023. Ceramic mural, 14 × 21 ft. Collection of The Bass, purchased through the John and Johanna Bass Acquisition Fund; and Ulla von Brandenburg, Things Are Thoughts, Day and Night, 2024. Two textile paintings, cut-out and painted cotton, both 19 × 17 ft. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London

Ulla von Brandenburg, Things Are Thoughts, Day and Night, 2024. Textile paintings, cut-out and painted cotton, each 19 × 17 ft. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London

Ulla von Brandenburg, Things Are Thoughts, Night and Night, 2024. Textile paintings, cut-out and painted cotton, each 19 × 17 ft. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London

Ulla von Brandenburg, Things Are Thoughts, Day, 2024. Textile paintings, cut-out and painted cotton, each 19 × 17 ft. Courtesy of the artist and Pilar Corrias, London